Detrital zircon geochronology and related evidence from clastic sediments in the Kyrenia Range, N Cyprus: Implications for the Mesozoic-Cenozoic erosional history and tectonics of southern Anatolia

Triassic to Pleistocene sandstones of the Kyrenia Range, N Cyprus provide an exceptional repository of the erosional history of Anatolia. The Kyrenia Range features several different tectonic hypotheses concerning the Eastern Mediterranean region, which are tested here using a combination of new and recently published detrital zircon geochronology, zircon trace-element data and hafnium isotopic data. Minimum detrital zircon ages refine the ages of several formations in the Kyrenia Range. The new data also provide insights into sediment provenance including far-removed sources of Upper Paleozoic zircons, within-plate versus subduction-related sources (e.g., rift; oceanic/continental arc/ophiolite) and Neogene collision-related magmatism. Facies and paleocurrent data indicate a major switch in clastic sediment input from generally southwards to westwards during the Oligocene, which was mainly controlled by the collision of the Arabian promontory with Anatolia, leaving the S Neotethys as an isolated deep-water basin.